Pearce, Reagan; (2025) Bringing the burbot (Lota lota, L.) back to English rivers: Habitat, thermal and hydrological suitability at a potential English reintroduction site. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Species reintroductions can play a major role in addressing biodiversity declines. Fish species reintroductions are, however, complex and require the investigation of multiple factors: physical habitat, water chemistry and hydrology, amongst others. The burbot Lota lota, L., the only freshwater member of the Cod family (Gadidae), was extirpated from English rivers due to a loss of suitable spawning and larval nursery habitat. There is potential for the burbot to be reintroduced into English rivers. This study sought to determine the spatial and temporal extent of suitable habitat for the burbot in a potential candidate reintroduction site, the upper River Wissey, UK, to support and inform a future reintroduction. The study investigates three main areas: physical river habitat availability, thermal suitability, and local hydrology, as each could be a potential barrier to a reintroduced burbot population. The physical river habitat chapter used a bespoke walkover instream river survey to locate and quantify the availability of habitats for each burbot life stage. This was combined with an ex situ remote sensing study used to locate and quantify potential floodplain spawning habitat, in comparison to a burbot reintroduction site in Belgium. The temperature chapter employed data collected over three hydrological years from a sensor network with high spatial and temporal resolution to assess the Wissey’s thermal suitability for each burbot life stage, and the chapter also considered climate change temperature projections. The final hydrological chapter has used observational and historical data from within the study area to characterise flood years and assess the extent and duration of floodplain inundation, and thus, spawning and larval habitat availability for reintroduced burbot. The study highlights the challenges that a burbot reintroduction attempt would face and can be directly applied to evidence-based decision making regarding the reintroduction, future river-floodplain restoration, and wider, landscape scale habitat management and restoration.

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